Melbourne’s longest running and most popular independent arts festival opens today with over 4000 artists from Victoria’s diverse arts scene showcasing new work in hundreds of venues all across the state.
The Melbourne Fringe Festival offers audiences a taste of some of the smartest and newest work of the time with some 326 events planned to take place in around 100 venues across the state.
Centred around the Fringe Hub in North Melbourne and spreading out into Melbourne’s suburbs, the Festival is a program of new ideas across a range of artforms including comedy, music, theatre, circus, dance, design and visual art.
This year, Melbourne Fringe embraces digital media in the program, with a special presentation of new works from filmmakers, animators and video artists at the Little Creatures Dining Hall in Fitzroy.
Highlights of the 2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival include:
Fringe Furniture – a long running Fringe Festival stalwart, this year invites furniture designers to respond to the theme Make It True. Opens Wednesday 18 September at the Abbotsford Convent.
The Fringe Hub centres around three venues, the North Melbourne Town Hall, Lithuanian House and Errols Café. Opens on Friday 20 September and offers a true taste of the Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Every night in the Fringe Club there’s a party, with 12 theme nights running the gamut of entertainment genres – including punk, circus, comedy, rock, ‘90s sing-alongs – even football gets a guernsey.
Digital Gardens – where audiences can see a show in the Festival and then play a game based on or inspired by the performance in two pop-up playgrounds to be set up at in the City and Prahran during the Festival.
The open-access Independent Arts program, where thousands of artists produce and present new work in theatres, galleries, laneways, public gardens, living rooms, trams, backyards and public spaces across Victoria.
The 2013 Melbourne Fringe Festival runs from 18 September to 6 October. For more information, visit: www.melbournefringe.com.au for details.
Image: Suitcase Rummage at the Fringe Club on Sunday 29 September 2013
